Almost by Eliot Anne

Author:Eliot, Anne [Eliot, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781937815004
Publisher: Butterfly Books, LLC
Published: 2012-02-03T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Jess

My first time roller skating has gone way beyond my low expectations. I've actually given it a rating of perfect despite the fact that the entire place is kind of whacked. Everything off the rink is covered with blue carpet and smells like old socks and stale sweat masked with Pine-Sol. It also blasts eighties pop non-stop, and has headache-worthy seventies disco lights.

But to me, it's become Cinderella's ballroom. I'm the girl crashing the party and dancing with the prince. This is total progress. Icing on the cake: Thanks to this date, I'd faced two other major teen firsts besides roller skating tonight: 1. An 11PM curfew and, 2. My new interrogator-style parents.

It's like the worried, do-whatever-you-want-sweetie-pie parents I used to have never existed. Tonight I'd been slapped with real live crankiness, a deadline and a long lecture about safety and making good choices before I'd left the house.

Double progress. This second date with Gray has earned me a first class ticket on the normal train! But it's also come with an unexpected price. Because my parents are worried I might have a boyfriend, my perfect ‘give me privacy' set-up is now at an end.

I knew this would happen eventually, but the third week into my contract with Gray seems way too soon for the prying to begin. I suppose it's my fault for being too good at all this lying.

In order for Mom and Dad to allow me to leave the house at all, I'd promised that I'd bring Corey Nash home for a barbecue next Sunday. Worse, Corey's supposed to pick me up and drive me the next time we go out. The speeding away from the driveway trick really pissed off Dad. They said if I was officially calling these outing dates—a word I'd used more than popcorn at the movies the past few days—then my boyfriend needed to man up. “Unless you're hiding something, honey,” Mom had said, suspicion dripping off her.

I search for Gray, who'd offered to get us drinks but now seems to have disappeared. Gripping the half-wall that separates me from the zooming people skating on the rink, I half skate, half walk, toward a sitting area. I'm trying to imagine scenarios that might work to delay the barbecue.

Maybe Gray could convince Corey to be his ‘stand in’ for one night; but I shudder at that thought. It would mean involving Corey in our contract, and I'm starting to like that everyone believes we're a real couple. Plus, Corey would blab the truth to the whole planet. Maybe not right away, but somewhere he'd slip up. The guy is just that type. Plus, I'd already imagined going back to school with only Gray and I holding onto this secret summer.

That feels safe—livable. Corey Nash…in my front yard eating Dad's special chili slapped on a grilled burger while pretending to be my boyfriend? That feels like the worst idea in the world.

I've run out of rink wall so I gingerly hold my hands out wide for balance and tap-clump my wheeled feet toward the rest area.

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